ASUS ROG Vulcan ANC Headset Review

ASUS ROG Vulcan ANC Introduction:

The Republic of Gamers, affiliated with ASUS, has released the "World's First" active noise canceling headset for gamers: the ROG ASUS Vulcan ANC. As you've probably already put it together, ANC stands for active-noise canceling. It's a feature that blocks out the noise around the room so you can better hear what is being played through the headset: i.e. your game. If you have noisy fans in your computer or you just want to tune out your mother telling you to clean your room, you can flip the ANC switch to the "on" position and simply tune them out. At least that's the idea behind this design from ASUS.

With a removable mic, removable cable, and carrying case, these headphones have the potential to offer quite a bit. The ROG ASUS Vulcan ANC headset features 40mm drivers with oblong circumaural (over the ear) design. The ear pads provide complete over the ear coverage in an ultra-soft breathable memory foam cushion – they should be rather comfortable for long hours of game play. Made with scratch resistant materials these should keep you looking sharp even after heavy use and your rage quits. Today we've got the ROG ASUS Vulcan ANC headset to see how they look, how they fit, and most importantly, how they sound.

ASUS ROG Vulcan ANC Closer Look:

The headset comes in a typical shelving package with a hang tag and graphics to catch your attention. It's rather subtle on the front with a quick image of the headset, but it does intrigue you to want to know or see more. "Active-Noise-Cancelling" is written out just above "PRO Gaming Headset". To me, my first thought is airplane headphones – awesome! Turning the box to the side the Republic of Gamers (ROG) logo is at the top with an ASUS logo at the bottom. There are four features listed in over 20 different languages. The back of the box is a little more interesting with a frequency response plot showing the difference between ANC on and off.

The 85% cancellation occurs at the higher range of human hearing capabilities to knock out the loud case fan sounds in your room or that hum of your old CRT. There is also a 30dB isolation at the lower range frequencies to block out environmental noise. The back of the box goes on to show a sneak peak of the product and its features – making me want to open it up even sooner. The last side of the box repeats the front of the box just rotated to the side so you can see what's in the box even in overstock areas. There's a little tab here at the side of the box to open up to more…

Opening up the tab there are some almost concept-esque style drawing of the headphones with script writing. Perhaps these are some actual sketches from finalizing the product, but nonetheless it's a little artsy that adds to the overall package design. There is a sort of disclaimer in the lower left corner "Focus to Win!", which talks about how ASUS listens to user feedback, and how this particular ROG product is built upon that. To the right you can almost get a glimpse at the headset itself, rather it's the carrying case for the headphones behind a nice bubble window. Now I want to open it more than before.

To slow the reveal even longer for you, though you can easily scroll ahead and look yourself, here's what I found inside: a warranty notice and quick start guide! Okay, so maybe it isn't very interesting, and perhaps if you can't figure out how to plug in a headset and use it you probably shouldn't be buying it; but, to be fair, the warranty information and someone else's entire job is dependent on making these manuals – so I'm all for them keeping their job. Pulled from the box the headset case looks that of any typical headphone carry along – soft yet not easily crushed. It has a ROG logo centered and a nice zipper between me and revealing the headset.

Unzipping the case completely it lies open flat on the table. There's a little pouch that attempts to hold the cable and goodies to one side while leaving the headset to its own business. Though the pouch doesn’t' seem to really hold things in place, it's a good starting point for finding things. The headset can be seen here folded up nicely, which makes for a quick on-the-go travel size that doesn't leave you worried about them braking in your bag. Continue to the next page to find some more on how this headset really looks.